SAN DIEGO _ Chris Paddack looked like himself again Wednesday. Fernando Tatis Jr. is no longer apologizing for looking like the best player on the planet. The Padres' relief corps looks nothing like A.J. Preller's vison.
Manny Machado made sure it didn't matter.
His walk-off grand slam capped a 6-3 win in the 10th inning, saving a bullpen that coughed up Paddack's lead with runs allowed in the ninth and 10th innings.
On the heels of one of the worst starts of his career, Paddack rebounded with six strong innings and was in line to win on home runs from Jurickson Profar and Tatis.
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This time, it was Matt Strahm blowing the lead. The left-hander followed Craig Stammen's perfect seventh with a spotless eighth, but Joey Gallo led off the ninth with a game-tying homer and Padres pitchers misplayed two 10th-inning tappers to almost give away yet another game.
Again, not what Preller envisioned when he constructed what many thought would be a super pen.
Kirby Yates looks like he's lost for the year to bone chips in his elbow. Back-up closer Drew Pomeranz's 18-pitch effort in the seventh inning Tuesday was one of seven arms used to preserve a win that Cal Quantrill, in consideration to start this weekend, saved with a one-out appearance. After Gallo's home run, Quantrill was called on again Wednesday _ the first back-to-back of his career _ to record the last out of the ninth and try to escape a 10th that started with a runner at second.
He could not, hitting a batter and botching Jose Trevino's tapper to the left side of the mound to load the bases. Left-hander Tim Hill struck out the first two batters he faced _ both right-handed _ but Willie Calhoun's tapper plated the go-ahead run because Hill did not make an attempt to the field a ball that rolled too far away from the plate for Austin Hedges to make a play.
A half-inning later, Rangers closer Rafael Montero surrendered Machado's walk-off slam after Tatis worked a nine-pitch walk to give the Padres' $300 million man a chance to win the game.
Machado won an eight-pitch battle to give the Padres a three-game winning streak.
It won't be the last time the Padres piece together the back end of games.
"I think it's a little day-to-day," Padres manager Jayce Tingler said of a bullpen that had the fourth-highest ERA (6.08) in the majors. "The roles are kind of changing with matchups and who's up, who's down, who needs a day off. I do think that something we'll probably be doing going forward."
Profar's home run off Rangers ace Lance Lynn (7 IP, 2 ER) tied the game at 1-1 in the third. Three batters later, Tatis' flyball to center carried 419 feet for his major league-leading 12th homer. The two celebrated both blasts by feigning tears after bumping forearms behind home plate, an apparent jab at the national debate that Tatis sparked by breaking so-called unwritten rules when he hit a grand slam on a 3-0 pitch in a seven-run game on Monday night in Texas.
Tatis, of course, has plenty to smile about.
His 12 home runs, two more than the Angels' Mike Trout, are the most by any 21-year-old in his team's first 26 games of a season since 1900. He also leads the majors with 29 RBIs and 24 runs scored and is tied for the league lead with six steals.
Paddack needed a rebound badly.
The six earned runs he allowed in his last start _ in three innings, no less _ tied a career-worst. He hadn't been bad until that point, but his strikeout rate had tailed off from his standout rookie campaign and his fastball command had wavered throughout. The Padres insisted that bumping everyone back a day by inserting a bullpen game Tuesday in Texas was for the good of the entire rotation, although perhaps no one more than Paddack.
Paddack been on at least five days' rest in every big-league start until taking the mound for a second time this season. After last week's beating by the Dodgers, his ERA on four days' rest had ballooned to 6.41, well below the 3.19 mark he'd posted on five or more days rest, mostly while the Padres protected his arm while continuing to build his arm following his 2016 Tommy John surgery.
Really, the last time Paddack had pitched on four days' rest was the last start he made at low Single-A Fort Wayne in July 2016.
Before the game, Tingler allowed that perhaps Paddack's between-start work required some calibration as the second-year starter adjusted to take a turn every five days essentially for the first time in his career. The extra day between starts _ which meant missing his first start in his native Texas _ allowed Paddack to fit in two bullpens before facing the Rangers at Petco Park and Monday's off-day should mean another five days of rest before his next start against the Mariners.
"I do think there's a little bit of an adjustment period," Tingler said. "Early on, he adjusted well with it. I don't know if that was what was lingering (in)to the last outing. I don't know that to be true or not. I do think ... priority No. 1, let's take a step back, let's get his fastball and let's get his mechanics and everything right. Larry (Rothschild) and (Ben) Fritz and the pitching staff feel really good where he's at."
The only mistake Paddack paid for in his return to the mound Wednesday was an 0-1 curveball that Rougned Odor yanked out to right in the second inning. The Rangers' second baseman watched Paddack's first curve of the game called a strike before pulling the trigger on one headed to the bottom of the strike zone.
Paddack stranded Jose Trevino's leadoff double in the third inning, Odor's bunt single into the vacated left side of the infield in the third and did not give in when his error and Trevino's ensuing single jammed him up to start the fifth.
He got the first two outs on flyballs. Then catcher Austin Hedges threw out Isiah Kiner-Falefa trying to steal third as Paddack bounced off the mound with a fist pump.
Paddack walked his second batter in the sixth inning _ Gallo _ on four pitches but stranded him to get out of third quality start of the season with one run allowed. He struck out five, one shy of his season-high, and scattered four hits while throwing 56 of his 93 pitches for strikes.
